Previous research has investigated motivations for reading by examining positive, or affirming, motivations including intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. Related to them, we examined two negative, or undermining, motivations consisting of avoidance and perceived difficulty. We proposed that the motivations of intrinsic motivation and avoidance are relatively independent, and thus, can be combined to form meaningful profiles consisting of: avid, ambivalent, apathetic, and averse readers. With Grade 5 students we found that these motivations were relatively independent for both Caucasian and African American students. The two motivations uniquely explained a significant proportion of variance in reading comprehension and other cognitive reading variables. Although intrinsic motivation was stronger for Caucasians, avoidance was stronger for African Americans. The profile of the African American students contained higher proportions of averse and ambivalent readers than the Caucasian profile. The profile of avid readers showed higher reading achievement than the other profiles.
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